The Girl in the Grocery
by Captain Turlow
Summary: Spencer McLaughlin took an internship at the Jeffersonian working for Dr. Jack Hodgins and she expected it to change her life. What she did not realize was just how much it would. The summary's not very good but give it a try. Zack/OC
1. The Grocery

**Okay this is a rewrite of my story The Intern. I just really didn't like how I started the first two chapters so I decided to scrap it and start over again. This new chapter I feel is much better than the old story. This is going to be a Zack/OC because, well one Zack is awesome and two I really miss him and this is my way of coping ****. Anyways here is the first chapter just give it a try and tell me what you think.**

Spencer McLaughlin, headed over to airport security for the fourth time this morning before a voice stopped her.

"And you made sure you actually paid for the apartment?" Said her father causing her to turn around and wheel her suitcase back over to where he stood.

"Yes, Dad for the thousandth time, I have taken care of everything. I'm 23 years old and I have an IQ of 163. I think I can handle moving to D.C. for a bit." She said rolling her eyes but still smiling. Her father was a rather successful private investigator and he was very over protective of her because of it.

"I still don't see why you couldn't have found an internship somewhere closer." He said with a frown, they had also been close and he was going to miss his only daughter.

"Because it's the Jeffersonian, Dad. This is the chance of a life time; I can't pass something like this up. Now remember I get into D.C. on Friday and then I have a week to get settled in before my internship actually starts. I promise to contact you every other day, and note a said contact not call sometimes I may email you okay?" She said before saying goodbye and hugging him tightly.

After making her way through all the security she made her way over to the airport terminal; her plane did not board for at least a half an hour so she had plenty of time to wait before her flight left. She couldn't believe her Dad was actually letting her go, but like she had explained to him numerous times, the work that was being done at the Jeffersonian by Dr. Brennan and her team was extraordinary, and though bones were not her specialty she would be working under Dr. Jack Hodgins an expert in particulates and since she hoped to get a doctorate in both entomology and geology using those degrees to solve crimes like he did seemed like the perfect career for her. It would be the blending of two very important aspects in her life, for the longest time she had been interested in science and all the information it offered, while on the other hand the fact that her father's work really helped people as well made her interested in solving crimes. Spencer loved answers and both science and P.I. work involved investigating for them.

Once the plane boarded and she found her seat she noticed someone familiar sitting in the seat next to her.

"What are you doing here?" She said with a groan, ordinarily she would be happy to see her best friend but since her Dad had probably sent him here this was not the case today. Logan had become her father's right hand man at his P.I. office.

"Okay, before you get mad. I have a job tailing some lobbyist whose wife thinks he is cheating on her. Though you're Dad, did also say to keep an eye on you the first couple of weeks you are in D.C. Look on the bright side I can help you move though." Said Logan with an apologetic smile.

"I suppose you're going to need a place to stay as well." She said with a sigh.

"That would be nice." He said sheepishly. Rubbing the back of his head and further ruffling his already messy blonde locks.

"Once I find a couch you have my permission to crash on it." She said with a laugh. Once the plane took off, she began to pull out her lap top and load a video.

"Oh what are we watching?" Said Logan with interest.

"A lecture on dermatitis carpet beetles and their most common use of cleaning off bones." She said with a smirk as Logan made a face that clearly suggested he thought that would be incredibly boring. He reached down and rummaged through his bag pulling out a DVD.

"Or we could watch Serenity?" He said with a smile, making the DVD dance in front of her face.

"I guess it is only fair we watch something we could both enjoy." She said with a laugh taking the box from his hand and placing it in the computer. "I'll just watch my lecture some other time." She said with a sigh.

He put a hand on her shoulder in a consoling manner and said in a very grave tone. "Don't give up hope Spence; I'm sure others from your planet survived and they would love to watch that video with you." He said trying his best to keep a straight face and ultimately failing. It had been a joke between the two of them since first grade, when they had met and it was the only grade they ever shared. For at least three years when they were growing up Logan was convinced that Spencer was in fact an alien from another planet, and he had therefore made it his goal to help her better blend in to earth culture so that the government would not take his best friend to Area 51 or something like that. Obviously now he knew she was in fact human, she just did not always have the same interests most "normal" people would have.

"Of course there are the mother ship is arriving any day now so we can begin our plan of world domination." She said with a laugh playing along with the joke.

The flight from San Diego to D.C was over quicker than Spencer expected. As they drove to her new apartment everything went by in a blur of new sights, sounds and smells. Most of the buildings were much older than those in San Diego and the fall air had a briskness to it that was not present in the dry Santa Ana plagued September they had been having back home, or rather in San Diego, technically D.C was to be her home now. As they walked up to her apartment Logan had his arms wrapped tightly around himself.

"Yes, warmth." He said once they entered the building.

"It's your fault for trying to wear shorts and a t-shirt in weather that you are not accustomed to." She said with laugh pulling out her key and opening the door to her apartment. It was then that she noticed that most of her things were already unpacked, and she realized her Dad must have called in a favor at the moving company and had them make sure her place was ready for her when she got there. She would remember to thank him later. Logan plopped down on the couch yawning as Spencer walked around exploring her new apartment.

The apartment had one bedroom, one bathroom and a living room and kitchen space. It was already furnished and had a plush sofa in the living room as well as a TV and some bookshelves. The bedroom had a decent sized closet where Spencer would have to unpack her clothes into later as well as some shelves she could put her various knickknacks on. The kitchen had all the proper appliances and when she opened the fridge she noticed it of course had nothing in it.

She grabbed her keys from the little bowl she had placed them in on the counter and the jiggling sound they made caused Logan to look at and say. "Going somewhere already?"

"I was just going to go to the grocery store and pick up a few things." She said knowing he would not want to come with her. She tended to take a long time when grocery shopping.

"You don't know where anything is." He stated.

"Logan, I'm a genius, I think I can find a grocery store." She said with a smirk.

"Well I don't want you just wandering around D.C." He said starting to get up off the couch.

"I'm not going to. I'm smart enough to use the GPS on my phone." She said with a laugh.

"That's not fair you set me up for that one." He said also with a laugh settling back onto the sofa.

"Yeah, just don't make a mess while I'm gone." She said before heading out the door. She entered a search on her phone and quickly found a grocery store within walking distance of her apartment. One of the things she really liked about the place she had found was that it was within walking distance of most places. It wasn't that she had anything against cars just merely that she could save a lot of gas money by walking to her work, and the store every day, not to mention it was her excuse for not going to the gym.

When she got to the store she went straight to the canned foods isle, although she had the capabilities to make more home cooked meals she knew in the later weeks she would be very busy and the more instant she could make her meals the better. The only problem with this was that she did not like a lot of the ingredients in most of the canned soups and such. She was going through each type of can and reading the labels. This meant she would pick one up read it put it back and move onto the next one. While she was doing this however she felt a like someone was watching her and the noticed the man about the same age as her who had been in the isle before she arrived would glance in her direction with a bemused expression before turning his attention back to the boxes of mac and cheese he had been looking at.

She realized what she was doing might look rather odd to some people and for some reason felt the need to explain her actions.

"It makes it hard to buy a lot of these processed foods when you actually know what all the stuff most people consider gibberish is. That's why I've been reading the labels; I'm not on one of those crazy diets or anything. I'm just trying to find something with the least amount of certain ingredients." She explained turning to face him and reaching up to tuck a stand of brown hair out of her face. Although her hair was pulled back in a pony tail it was layered so occasionally some of the front pieces would come loose and fall near her face.

He just sort of looked at her for a moment, probably wondering why she was talking to him and she was beginning to wonder the same thing. The man in question was tall with a lean build and a mop of messy brown hair, and looked almost a bit nerdy if that was at all possible to decide from someone's appearance. Spencer didn't know what about him made her think this but she did however realize she found his attractive and therefore even though she was a genius she felt rather dumb explaining herself. "Yeah, it's a little weird…" She said before turning her attention back to the food, begging color to not rise to her cheeks.

"I understand completely. Though because of our society's reliance on cheap and quickly prepared foods it's rather unavoidable." He said causing her to turn and face him again.

"Really?" She said surprised by his answer.

"Yes, I'm an anthropologist I can make such judgments about this society based on research, my facts are sound." He explained thinking she had been questioning his fact.

"Oh I wasn't confused about that. I was just more surprised you didn't find it odd that I was spending a great deal of time reading the entire ingredients list on all the cans. In my experience a lot of the things I do are strange to most people." She said with a nervous laugh before grabbing one of the cans of soup again and starting to read again. The man she had been talking to earlier walked over from where he stood and grabbed one of the cans off the shelf and held it out to here. "This one is probably the most natural and therefore had the least amount of processed ingredients; I figured I would save you the trouble." He said with a small smile

"Oh, um thanks." She said with a smile taking the can but still reading it.

"You don't trust my assessment?" He said with raised eyebrows.

"You said you were an anthropologist, I'll leave the people stuff to you and trust myself with anything involving chemicals, rocks or bugs." She said with a laugh before putting the can in her basket. She smiled and said "Well…thank you for your assistance." Because she wasn't really sure what else to say. She left the isle and headed over to the frozen foods sections to get some TV dinners for Logan. All the while thinking to herself that so far she rather liked D.C., after all in San Diego she had never been helped by a cute anthropologist.

Meanwhile Zack Addy grabbed the mac and cheese had originally come in for and after paying for it headed back to the Jeffersonian. He had used his lunch break to stock up of some more instant mac and cheese to keep at work and he had not realized how much time he had taken to do so. He hoped Dr. Brennan didn't need him for anything urgent at the moment and after he placed the box of mac and cheese under his desk his friend Dr. Hodgins said. "Someone took a long lunch."

"I did not anticipate I would end up conversing with a woman in canned foods, otherwise my trip would have been timed perfectly." Zack explained.

"Someone need help reaching something off the top shelf again?" Said Hodgins.

"No, she we had a brief discussion of the reason for certain ingredients in processed foods. She seemed quite knowledgeable on the subject." Said Zack turning his attention to some reports on his desk he would have to fill out later. "Also she had rather symmetrical feminine facial features and defined cheek bones that are generally found to be ascetically pleasing in this culture." He said as an afterthought.

"Wait so you chatted up attractive woman in the grocery store about processed food?" Said Hodgins shaking his head thinking his friend had made yet another blunder when talking to women. "Zack, girls don't like to talk about that kind of stuff, you probably bored her to death."

"Actually she was the one who initiated the conversation, she claimed to know a lot about chemicals, rocks and bugs and seemed rather surprised that I shared an interest in the subject."

"You expect me to believe a good looking girl just randomly came up to you in the store and started talking to you about processed food? I bet she wasn't actually good looking then."

"No she was very attractive, although her legs were far too long for her torso and she lacked certain feminine curves but other than that…"

"Wait I have an idea." Said Hodgins interrupting him and still not believing the story, well he believed most of it just not the part about the woman in question being attractive. Sure there were attractive women with an interest in science in the world but there were not as many of them as one would prefer. He didn't explain the idea to Zack but rather just walked towards Angela's office, Zack following him with curiosity.

"He Ang are you busy?" He said once inside her office.

"No." Said Angela wondering why they were in her office.

"Okay then describe her to Angela, and have her draw her." Said Hodgins to Zack.

"Wait who am I drawing?" Said Angela.

"Zack, claims an attractive girl with a thorough knowledge of chemicals, bugs, and rocks chatted him up about proceed foods at the grocery store." Said Hodgins his tone clearly suggesting he thought this was a load of b.s.

"Really?" Said Angela with interest.

"I however could see some of the story being true but I highly doubt the girl was attractive. Trust me we don't get attractive women wanting to go into the whole bug and slime thing." He said.

"How about we let me be the judge of that?" Said Angela with a smile. She didn't have anything to work on today and the thought of Zack actually talking to a girl and said girl being interested was a very intriguing notion.

Angela of course agreed to draw the woman in question, having to constantly remind Zack to describe her in layman's terms rather than the usual scientific jargon. It took longer than expected but the end result was worth the wait.

"Aw she's cute." Said Angela admiring her work. She had given the girl a smile because when Zack was describing her she seemed like a friendly person. She had large eyes and an oval shaped face with a small button nose. She was by no means drop dead gorgeous but she was defiantly pretty and probably the kind of girl who had not know it.

"Wow's she's actually pretty. Maybe I should start going to the same grocery store as you." Said Hodgins looking down at the drawing.

"I don't think it would work for you Hodgins. This was a onetime thing; I mean what are the odds?"

"That Zack would run into a pretty girl who understands him? Highly unlikely." Said Hodgins

"I think the universe it trying to tell you something, Zack." Said Angela with a smirk.

"I highly doubt something as infinite as the universe is attempting to speak with me." Said Zack looking down at the picture as well, Angela had done a really good job at capturing the look of the woman.

"Well if I were you sweetie, I'd keep going to that store and hope you run into her again." Said Angela looking down at her drawing once again. "The grocery store girl." She said with a smile liking the way that sounded.

**Well there is the first chapter. I hope you liked it and that is was a improvement from the other story. Also don't forget to review and tell me what you think, I love to hear from my readers. **


	2. The Distraction

**Okay sorry that update took so long I've been super busy. Anyways thanks for reading and reviewing I'm glad you like the rewrite so far. I think it's an improvement on the first draft by far. Enjoy!**

"So Zack have you done anymore grocery shopping?" Said Angela with a sly smile.

"No. I haven't the need for groceries at the moment; though since you are probably only asking because of the grocery store girl I will once again inform you that the statistical likelihood of me running into her again is rather slim." He said with a sigh as he continued to arrange some bones for Dr. Brennan to examine. It had been like this for about a week now, everyone seemed fascinated by the idea of the girl in the grocery store and many theories mostly concocted by Angela or Dr. Hodgins had surfaced. Zack however knew the chances of him ever running into her again were highly unlikely and for this fact he saw no reason to postulate what kind of outcome a second conversation might yield.

"I figured it out." Said Dr. Saroyan with a smile heading over to the lab table.

"We don't even have a case yet." Said Zack looking up at their new boss with a confused expression.

"No, not a case. Remember how I said I thought that girl, the one from the grocery store, looked familiar…" She explained holding a folder in her hands.

"You know who grocery store girl is?" Said Angela with a look of disbelief.

"Who knows who grocery store girl is?" Said Hodgins with interest as he walked over to the examination table.

"Cam does." Said Angela

"You do as well Dr. Hodgins."

"No I don't. I've never seen her before in my life." Scoffed Hodgins.

"The name Spencer McLaughlin ring a bell?"

"My new intern, Spencer McLaughlin? He's a dude." Said Dr. Hodgins with a laugh.

"No, she is in fact a woman and if you don't believe me you can see for yourself I called her in today."

"Huh, some of those emails she sent make a lot more sense now." Said Dr. Hodgins adjusting to the fact that his new intern was in fact a woman. It seemed strange to him that a woman would be interest in the bug and slime department but then again she had found Zack interesting as well so he was ready to believe this woman was unusual.

"What were you saying about statistical likelihoods again?" Said Angela to Zack with a smirk. Zack however didn't answer Angela's questions and was instead looking behind her where the woman from the grocery store now stood at the foot of the stairs. She looked almost exactly the same as she had earlier, jeans, and purple converse, but this time with a different witty t-shirt that was yellow and said "technically we are all under the weather."

Spencer McLaughlin finally decided to make her presence known to the group of people present in the lab. "Um, I'm the new intern. They didn't have a card ready for me yet so I can't get on the platform without setting something off."

She noticed that everyone's attention quickly shifted to her, what was more surprising was she recognized one of them, cute anthropologist as Logan and her and fondly been referring to him as was standing among the group. This to some would seem like a coincidence to Spencer however it was just a puzzle coming together. Originally she had thought she would never see him again be given the close proximity of the grocery store to the Jeffersonian it made sense why he might shop there.

A really pretty woman of half Asian decent rushed over to the stair case and swiped her own card so that Spencer could come up the stairs.

"Hi, I'm Angela Montenegro." She said with a beaming smile as the two walked over to the lab table.

"Ms. McLaughlin, sorry to call you in early but we have a case that may involve a lot of particulate work and we thought it would be better to have you here sooner rather than later. I'm Dr. Saroyan we spoke over the phone." Said Cam also with a smile once Spencer had come over to the platform.

A short curly haired man with a beard spoke next "I'm Dr. Hodgins." He said extending a hand for he to shake. He looked at her with interest and said" So you're my intern, and no offense I thought you were a dude, we don't exactly get many girls in the whole bug and slime department, and your name was Spencer so."

"Yeah may Dad always wanted boys, he just had to settle for a daughter who practically is one." She said with a laugh.

"Actually despite your lack of a typical hour glass figure associated with most women the delicate nature of your facial bone structure makes it very feminine, it would be very difficult to mistake you for a male because you have many traits that most men in western cultures find ascetically pleasing." Said Zack not really sure what to say, there after all wasn't really a social protocol for talking to someone you've never really met but have conversed with before. He noticed Dr. Hodgins and Angela giving him a strange look.

"Um…good to know I suppose." She said with a small smile. She couldn't help but wonder if that was the way she would have sounded had she not had a friend like Logan who forced her to use more colloquial phrases. "I don't know if you remember me, we talked in the grocery store a few days ago."

"Yes, you were looking for a particular type of processed soup. How did the product I suggested work out, despite the fact I have not studied as extensively in the field as you seem to have?"

"Really good actually." She said pushing some hair out of her face again. It was a nervous habit and half the time she didn't even realize she was doing it.

"Okay…" Said Cam after watching the exchange with a confused expression on her face. "We have a case to get working on. Unfortunately Ms. McLaughlin, I can't get you out in the field yet because we can't trust you with handling a crime scene yet so I'm going to have you wait here until Dr. Hodgins and I get back and he will find you something to do."

"The victim, was apparently found in a trash truck, so you know what that means, lots of larva, rats, and organic matter, basically a gold mine of particulates." Said Dr. Hodgins a hint of excitement in his voice.

"Cool." She said with excitement before changing her tone and saying. "I mean, lot of particles, not the whole something being murdered thing, that's horrible."

"And Angela maybe you can give her some tips to make sure she don't upset Dr. Brennan, I may have forget to mention to it to her that we have a new intern." Said Cam before her turning to leave.

"You picked a great day to start working here, not a dude intern." He said with a smile and a reassuring pat on the shoulder before following Dr. Saroyan. Zack began to put away the bones he had been setting out before, if they had a case that meant they would no longer be examining the stone aged remains they were originally working with.

"Should I be worried about Dr. Brennan?" Said Spencer to Angela with concern.

"Just don't touch, the bones and don't argue with her and she'll probably like you." Said Angela with a reassuring smile. She then left saying she would have to prepare for the case which meant Spencer and the anthropologist were alone together. She just sort of stood their awkwardly not sure what she should be doing with her time, after all no one had given her any further instructions. She also realized that she still didn't know his name.

"I realize we're in an unusual situation and have never really been introduced, I'm Spencer McLaughlin." She said reaching out a hand for him to shake. He put down some of the bones he had been holding and took her hand before saying "Zack Addy." And returning the gesture. He realized he had lingered slightly longer than the social norm for a handshake and came to the conclusion that since she was familiar to him he felt the need to maintain contact longer to acknowledge this. It was only a brief moment longer however, not even one most people would have thought anything off. He then turned his attention back to his work until she spoke again.

"So, do you like working here?"

"Yes, Dr. Brennan is the best in her field and working for someone such as her is a great achievement. I also plan to get my doctorate thought I haven't found much time to work on my dissertation." He said looking up from his work; he noticed she had made a face at the mention of a dissertation.

"I haven't even started mine yet." She said with a sigh. "But I plan to get a doctorate as well; it put it on my list of goals for my life and whatever I put something on the list I get it done. For example I never wanted to end up like Isaac Newton and I've achieved that."

"You didn't want to end up like a scientist who was highly honored, brilliant and the inventor of calculus?" Said Zack his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Oh no all of that stuff is fine I just wanted a bit more balance in my life and achieve certain social goals as well, even though Isaac Newton achieved a lot in life he still died a virgin and I didn't want that so…" She paused for a moment before saying "I realize that is an odd thing to say…"

"Yes, but so is explaining your actions to a stranger in a grocery store. The only reason we even are familiar with one another is because of it." He said. He never really did well in most social situations but the fact that Spencer did not often adhere to social norms when around him it actually made her easier to talk to than some people.

"True. You know in all honestly I never thought I would run into you again because statistically speaking the chances of something like this happening are rather minuet."

"I assumed something similar." He said finishing putting away the bones. Now that neither of them had anything to do they were just standing by the lab table.

"So you're actually a forensic anthropologist and not just an anthropologist then."

"Yes, but I'm technically and anthropologist first like Dr. Brennan." He said answering her question. They talked for a while as Zack continued to prep the lab for the body. Mostly just basic information, siblings, work, Spencer's move from California, as well as some interests and hobbies. Although when they first met they seemed to have some things in common they were quickly realizing they had rather a lot of things in common.

Angela who occasionally come out of her office to sneak a glance over in their direction, she smiled when she saw they were still talking but she also noticed that Booth and Brennan had just entered the lab and were on their way to Brennan's office most likely to discuss the case. She walked briskly to catch up with them.

"Why is there someone in the lab talking to Zack he's supposed to be prepping the lab?" Said Brennan looking over at the platform when Angela caught up to the pair.

"You don't recognize her?" Said Angela.

Booth who had been looking over in that direction as well said "Wait that's grocery store girl."

"I don't really care who she is, they should be working." Said Dr. Brennan before calling over to the pair. "Aren't you supposed to be setting up the lab? And what is your purpose on the platform?"

"Everything is almost completed." Answered Zack before quickly turning his attention back to his work.

"Um, I'm the new intern and no one told me what I should be doing so in an effort to not compromise anything I've just been observing Z-Mr. Addy work." Said Spencer hesitantly, looking apologetic as she answered Dr. Brennan's second question which she assumed was aimed at her.

"You should wait for Dr. Hodgins over by this workspace." Said Brennan turning her attention away from the interns when Booth said.

"Bones, what'd you do that for?"

"What? She was being a distraction. Zack usually has is work done by now and the only thing different about today is her presence at the workplace so I can conclude she is the cause." Said Dr. Brennan before heading into her office. Angela just let out a sigh.

"I'm sure it's not a big deal. Plus I think it's good that a squint like Zack can be distracted." Said Booth with a shrug. Before Brennan could answer however the distraction in question came over to the group.

"I don't know where Dr. Hodgins work space is and I would have asked Mr. Addy but he has work to do and I didn't want to get him in trouble again." She said. Spencer noticed that the man in the suit just looked at her with a kind smile on his face while Dr. Brennan just looked her with icy blues eyes and a slightly annoyed expression.

It was Angela who ended up speaking. "Here, I'll show you, sweetie." She said before leading Spencer off towards Hodgin's station.

"I think I've managed to anger Dr. Brennan already." Said Spencer with a sigh.

"Don't worry too much about it, she hated Booth when they first met and now they're really close now. Booth was the man in the suit." Angela explained."So you know Zack?" She said with interest.

"Not really, we talked for a bit in a grocery store a few days ago. I honestly didn't think I would run into him again."

"Yeah, you do realize he thinks you're hot right?"

At this Spencer let out a laugh and said "What makes you say that?"

"Sweetie, please, he practically said it to you with all that gibberish about bone structure, he said ascetically pleasing, that basically means you're nice to look at."

"I can understand how you might think that but he said ascetically pleasing to most males in western society, which does not necessarily mean him. He was probably just making an objective observation." She said with a shrug.

"You say objective observation I say checking you out it's the same thing." Said Angela with a smirk. Spencer was about to correct her when Dr. Hodgins came over to his work station carrying a pair of black rain boots. He set them on the desk and said "So I hear you got Dr. Brennan's perfect grad student in trouble."

"Speaking of Dr. Brennan I'd better get going before she's sees I'm not working." Said Angela before leaving.

"How did you hear about that already?" Said Spencer to Dr. Hodgins.

"News travels fast around here, Intern." He said with a smile. "Also I've got a present for you."

He handed her the rain boots and she said with a smirk "How did you know I've always wanted a pair of rain boots."

He laughed and said "Trust me you're gonna want them when we're sifting through piles of trash today."

And this was very true, the rest of her day was spend standing in a large pile of trash sifting through the items for any clues that might help with the case while Dr. Hodgins analyzed the shroud the body had been wrapped in. So far all they knew was the body belonged to a teenage boy. The only other person besides Zack she really talked to today was Dr. Hodgins who she thought seemed to be a good mentor. He had a good sense of humor and although her often teased her by making her look for random objects that did not exist in the lab he seemed to like her.

A few people from the lab were going to a diner nearby to get some dinner before going home that night and Dr. Hodgins had asked her to tag along. The group consisted of Hodgins, Angela and Zack.

"So how did you like your first day, Intern." Said Dr. Hodgins once they sat down at a booth in the diner.

"It actually wasn't too bad."

"Even for spending the whole day in a pile of garbage?" Said Angela with a laugh.

"I didn't make her work with the really bad stuff yet, I'm not that mean it was mostly cardboard. But you did pretty well for a first day Intern."

"Can I not be called Intern outside of the lab?" Said Spencer

"Maybe." He said pausing for a second before answering. He thought for a moment before saying "Although you might have earned the name already because you got Zack in trouble today, which I find highly amusing."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that." She said to Zack for probably the fourth time this evening.

"As I have said before, I didn't really get in trouble Dr. Brennan just informed me I should be more focused on my work than talking to you." He said with a shrug.

"Come on Z-man you're like a super genius can't you learn to multitask?" Said Dr. Hodgins looking over at Zack. He then turned to Spencer and explained. "Zack here was a child prodigy; he probably has us all beat here."

"I have an IQ of over 163." Said Zack.

"Well not by much then I have an IQ of 163 exactly." Said Spencer.

"Wait you're as smart as Zack?" Said Angela in disbelief.

"Actually I said my IQ is over 163 so technically Spencer is less intelligent than me." Said Zack correcting the earlier statement made by Angela.

"Okay but still, you're like normal, for the most part." Said Angela still not really absorbing the new information yet. "I mean most of the time you don't speak like your some kind of robot or super smart alien who don't know a thing about how we earthlings behave, unlike some people." She said looking over at Zack.

Spencer just said with a smirk. "Yes, well that's actually why I am here Zack has failed to assimilate properly into earth culture I'm here to escort him back to the mother ship." She took it a step further and stood up "Come on let's go."

Zack just looked confused and Hodgins said "She's joking Z-man." As she sat back at the table.

"Angela postulated that because of your superior intellect and of lack certain social skills you are an alien from outer space. I merely attempted to make the situation humorous by taking it a step further; making is seem as though her statement was true, even though it has yet to be proven that there is life on other planets and the fact that although you and I both are extremely intelligent we are still in fact human beings from the planet earth." She explained.

"I suppose it is humorous of you to make such a flawed hypothesis." Said Zack while Hodgins and Angela just started at Spencer in shock. She started to feel uncomfortable at the way they were looking at her and said "What?"

"You speak his language." Said Angela, realizing why the pair had been getting along so well all day.

"That took you like 5 minutes to say. We're trying to teach him to be more normal." Scolded Hodgins.

"Right." She said realizing her mistake and then turning to Zack and saying. "Simple explanation, Hodgins was right I was joking."

"Your explanation before was simple." He said.

At this statement Hodgins let out a sigh and said "Okay you have full permission to take him back to the mother ship." Angela and Spencer shared and laugh. It was strange to Spencer that she already meshed so well with some of her fellow co-workers. Spencer wasn't sure what she did to make them like her, but she was glad to be quickly making friends since she hardly knew anyone in the city.

**Well there you have it another chapter with a little bit of stuff from the old chapter. Also don't forget to review I love feedback from you guys, it makes me want to update ASAP, which is a good thing for you readers. **


	3. Roses

**Well sorry it took so long to update. I've been super busy. I want to thank Phosphorescent for reviewing chapter two. I really appreciate it when readers take a moment of their time to let me know people are actually reading this story. Thank you to those of you who story alerted for faved this story you guys are awesome but you could be super awesome if you just reviewed as well. **

The next morning Spencer's alarm went off waking her up bright and earlier for her second day at the Jeffersonian. Spencer however had never been much of a morning person and was walking around the apartment practically comatose as she got ready for her day.

As she poured herself a bowl of cereal Logan came into the kitchen and said "Chemists do it on the table periodically? I thought you said you would never wear that in public." He said in regards to the light blue shirt she had on today. It had been a gag gift from him a few years back.

Spencer who had just grabbed the first shirt she could find that morning just looked down and said "Eh it's fine."

"So how was your first day? You didn't get back till late."

"Good, I got to dig through a pile of trash." She said taking a bite of cereal.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly. You just said you spend the day in a pile of trash and that's a good thing?" Said Logan looking at her like she was crazy.

"Trash equals lots of bugs and slime which equals lots of fun for me." She said with a smile. Logan just shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Oh and you'll never guess who works there as well." She said.

"That anthropologist?" Said Logan with a smirk.

"How did you know?" Said Spencer surprised by his answer.

"Uh, just cause I'm not a genius doesn't mean I'm stupid. The only other person you know here in D.C. is that guy and your mentor so I figured it had to be that guy you thought was cute." Said Logan with a shrug.

"I suppose never was not an appropriate word." She said in regards to her earlier statement and continuing to eat her cereal.

"So find anything interesting in the trash?"

"It was mostly just crates for vegetables, imported vodka bottles, order slips written in another language I think it was Russian…" Said Spencer stopping mid sentence as something dawned on her.

"Aren't you going to ask me how my work was yesterday?" Said Logan during this pause.

"No, I think I just may have thought of something important to the case." She said before getting up and leaving. She vaguely heard him yell something to her as she rushed out the door but she did not pause to hear him properly.

She quickly made her way to the Jeffersonian and found Dr. Hodgins at his workplace already.

"We're probably going to need to look through the organic matter to confirm this but I think we might be looking for a Russian restaurant." She said as Dr. Hodgins just stared at her. "Oh and good morning." She added as an afterthought.

"Yeah, good morning…why I Russian restaurant?" He said looking confused.

"I was just thinking about everything we found yesterday and I just pieced it all together, there were crates that you would use for cabbage or beets, vodka bottles, and restaurant order slips."

"You might be on to something, there Intern." He said starting to put on a pair of rain boots so they could start sifting through trash. "Nice slippers." He said with a smirk before heading off to the room they were keeping all the garbage. Spencer was confused by this statement at first but then she looked down at her feet and realized she was wearing her pink bunny slippers. That must have been what Logan had shouted at her. She had been so caught up in her discovery that she had not realized she was wearing them.

"Great…" She mumbled before taking them off and putting on a pair of boots as well following Dr. Hodgins.

They spend the first half of the morning digging through garbage which basically confirmed Spencer's theory, after a while Dr. Hodgins left to analyze the flower that was in the boy's hand. When Spencer was satisfied she would not find out any more information from the garbage she headed over to Dr. Hodgin's station to see if he needed help with anything.

"A rose by any other name would smell so sweet." He said when she walked over to the station. He did not look up from his work but was instead looking into a microscope.

"I take it to mean you figured out the flower was a rose?" She said going to take off her boots but then realizing her alternative was pink bunny slippers and decided to keep them on.

"Yes, and not just any rose." He said with a smile. He got up to report this information as well as the information about a Russian restaurant to Dr. Brennan leaving Spencer alone at this station. When he returned her told her that if she wanted to not smell like garbage anymore she could go and used the decontamination shower.

Now freshly showered she realized just how hungry she was and decided she would go on her lunch break. Her dad however always taught her that meals were a social thing and therefore should be accompanied by other people if possible. She noticed Zack was still working with the body he had been examining all morning and since Dr. Brennan was not around she thought she could risk talking to him while he was working.

"Hey, I'm going to take my lunch break." She said standing across from him.

"Is there a particular reason you are telling me this?" He said looking up from his work for a moment before turning his attention back to the dead body.

"It was a way to start a conversation as well as to subtlety inquire as to whether or not you would like to join me."

He looked up from his work once again and looked over at her. "Why are you wearing slippers?"

She let out a sigh before saying "I got so excited about figuring out the Russian restaurant thing I forgot I was wearing them and left my apartment. I would wear the boots I had on earlier but they smell awful." Not wanting have attention on her rather ridiculous slippers she changed the subject. "So what happened to him?"

"He was most likely struck in the cranium with a cylindrical object, my best hypothesis is a rusty pipe and then he was pushed out a window and fell approximately 15 feet."

"So that would be where he was struck with the pipe?" She said pointing to the damaged area of the skull. "And you can tell that is was a pipe just from the bones?"

"Mostly from the bones. You can tell a lot about a person from bone structure. For example you have a slight misshaping in your abnormally narrow phalanges, with all the skin in the way it's difficult to tell but you probably played a string instrument for a few years." He said looking over at her hand when he said this.

"I played the cello. My dad made me he said it would be a way for me to be well rounded." She said also looking at her hands as well. "So anything else about me abnormal?"

"You're legs are disproportionally long in comparison to your torso, though having long legs is generally a sign of beauty in this society." He said looking at her rather than at his work.

"That could almost be mistaken for a compliment." She said with a smile.

"It's better than a compliment it's a fact." He said looking at her with a confused expression, something in her tone suggested that she might be flirting with him but he could not definitively come up with an answer.

Before she could reply Dr. Brennan who was just about to leave with Agent Booth to get some work done out in the field said "Ms. McLaughlin, is there any particular reason as to why you are over by the evidence?"

"No, Dr. Brennan I was just about to go on my lunch break." She said cringing slightly. She told herself she was going to try and get on Dr. Brennan's good side but it seemed she had once again been unsuccessful.

"The most effect way to do that would be to exit the platform rather than converse with Zack first." She said before Agent Booth began to usher her away.

"So lunch break?" She said once Dr. Brennan had left.

"I would find it interesting to continue this conversation during a lunch break however I have a lot of work to do and therefore do not think it would be a good idea to be distracted from it further."

"Alright, maybe some other time then?" She said with a shrug before leaving to go to lunch. However before she left the lab she recalled that Angela was rather friendly and might like to take a break for lunch as well.

She peeked her head into Angela's office and said "I'm going on my lunch break and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with?"

"Sure." Said Angela getting up from her desk. She actually looked like she was rather bored and was glad for the interruption from her work.

'Why is there a sketch of me on the wall?" said Spencer brows knitted in confusion when she noticed something on the back wall.

"Uh…" Said Angela not sure what to say before coming up with a lie. "Wow, that's weird that does look a lot like you but that was for a case a little while ago." She said with a shrug.

"Should I be concerned that I'm a murder suspect?" Said Spencer with a laugh.

"No you should be fine." Said Angela as she grabbed her purse to leave. "Sweetie, what are you wearing?" She said noticing the slippers.

"Slippers. Actually before we go anywhere else I should swing by my apartment and get a pair of shoes." Said Spencer not wanting to explain once again who absent minded she could be at times.

They walked over to Spencer's apartment and Spencer began to search her room for her purple converse while Angela looked in her closet. "This is a lot of t-shirts and jeans."

"I've never really had the need for much else." Said Spencer with a shrug.

"Okay, this weekend you and I are having a girl's day and we're going shopping. Then we can hit up some clubs show off your new clothes, chat up some guys, it would be fun." Said Angela, she noticed that Spencer relayed heavily on advice from her dad when it came to normal people things and she thought she might be able to help take the girl under her wing and help her fit in even more.

"I'd don't think I'm the club going type." Said Spencer with a laugh putting on her shoes.

"At least let me help you find some new clothes, you could really turn some heads if you stopped dressing like you were still in high school. How old are you again?"

"I'm 24 and I suppose my wardrobe could use and update. I mean I've never really had a girl friend help me with clothes."

"Your mom never took you shopping?"

"My mom died when I was two, I don't even really remember her." Said Spencer taking a picture that was on her nightstand and handing it to Angela.

"She looks really happy, I bet she was nice." Said Angela with a smile.

"I like to think so." Said Spencer putting the picture back where it belonged.

The two of them then headed over to the diner where they sat and talked for a little while before realizing they would have to go back to work.

Once at the Jeffersonian again Spencer had the task of helping Dr. Hodgins look at rust samples to try and determine which pipe might have been the murder weapon. Well actually Spencer wasn't really helping Dr. Hodgins she was currently doing all the work while Dr. Hodgins attempted to explain the central conflict of Romeo and Juliet to Zack.

"It's not that complicated, you read it in high school." Said Hodgins starting to get upset.

"I think it's creepy that they were twelve. Not to mention killing yourself because you love someone is not romantic and if they both would have been a little more observant both their deaths could have been easily avoided." Said Spencer putting in her own input to the discussion but still not looking up from her work.

"Okay fine, I'll give you that one, but it's a love story, it's really not all that complicated. He thinks he likes her, so he says poems and gets her roses and such; girls love that kind of stuff right, not a dude Intern?"

"I think poems are dumb and roses are a rather dull flower. Technically my favorite type of flower is the butterwort but my dad said I shouldn't tell men to get me a carnivorous plant as a sign of affection. So my favorite flowers are daffodils." Said Spencer turning her attention to her mentor and Zack rather than her work.

"Okay… so Spencer's not like most girls..." Said Hodgins realizing she wasn't going to help prove his point.

"It's true I have abnormal phalanges." She said with a smirk, but also holding up a hand to show them off. Zack also smiled and Hodgins just looked between the pair before saying.

"Right, don't know what's that's about. On another note, Intern here might just get to call King of the Lab with figuring out that restaurant thing so quickly." Said Hodgins with a smile.

"King of the Lab?" Said Spencer with interest.

"Zack and I compete to be King of the Lab by discovering crucial evidence for a case. Well the evidence wasn't that exactly crucial that you found but since you work for me you're points go to me and I want to beat Zack."

"I don't think I should get to call it unless I actually earn it." Said Spencer.

"Why do her points go to you?" Said Zack.

"She's my intern." Said Hodgins.

"So, does that mean I get Dr. Brennan's points?"

"Is she your intern?"

"No but she's my mentor and if you are suggesting points are shared between mentor and intern I get points anytime she finds crucial evidence."

Hodgins realizing how often Dr. Brennan did just that said "Nope Spencer get her own points. It's every man and well woman for themselves."

They continued to explain the rules of King of the Lab to Spencer until they all realized they should really be getting back to work. Spencer spent the rest of the evening looking at rust samples and because everyone was so involved with evidence from the case they did not go to dinner that night. Spencer ended up working rather late in the night before finally calling it quits and heading home to get some sleep before work tomorrow.

**So, please review. I would really love to hear feedback from people.**


	4. Conversing Awkwardly

**Yeah, reviews! Thank you ****Jannuary****,****mjels**** ,****chick-flick108****deathnoteno1fan-codegeasslover**** and ****Phosphorescent**** for giving me some feedback, you guys are awesome! Anyways, enjoy this next chapter.**

They had basically solved the case by now and Brennan and Booth had gone to get the killer. This meant that everyone else in the lab was basically free to do whatever they wanted. Dr. Hodgins had Spencer moving some flesh eating beetles into a different container while he was working on some research.

Hodgins barely had any time to start getting any research done because Zack came over and stared to hover over him.

"Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?" He said with a sigh.

"I'm not entirely sure." He said his brow knitted in confusion. "She keeps talking to me even though, every time she does she gets in trouble with Dr. Brennan." He said contemplating this information.

Hodgins assumed the "she" must mean Spencer his intern and he said "I'm going to assume you're talking about my new intern. Do you not like her talking to you?"

"No, I actually enjoy conversing with her however I can't understand why she keeps doing it. I have theories but I'm sure as to how to test them."

"Dude, it's not exactly rocket science." Scoffed Hodgins.

"I've never understood that statement, rocket science has never seemed confusing to me."

"For some strange reason she actually seems to find you interesting. If I were you I wouldn't question it and just go with it." Hodgins explained.

"Go with what?" Said Spencer who had just walked up to the conversation and only heard the tale end.

"I'm not sure." Said Zack who just looked confused. Hodgins just looked kind of irate and said "Nothing, don't worry about it."

"Okay…" Said Spencer who looked suspiciously at the two of them. "Well… I'm going to go on my lunch break."

"Does that mean you want someone to go with you or are you just announcing that you are going on your lunch break?" Said Zack knowing she had done something like this before with the first intent in mind.

"Um…either one?" Said Spencer who now looked just as confused as Zack did a moment ago. They stood there awkwardly for a moment before Spencer finally spoke again. "So does that mean you guys are coming with me?"

"I have research that I need to catch up on." Said Hodgins before turning his attention back to his work.

"I suppose that means I should take this time to work on my dissertation." Said Zack looked slightly pained for a moment before saying to Hodgins "Was there a reason you just kicked me?" At this statement Hodgins just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Okay well I'll just go then." Said Spencer still looking confused before leaving to go to lunch.

"You are going to be single for a long time." Said Hodgins turning to face Zack. Before Zack could inquire about what he meant by that he explained "She wants to go to lunch with you, because she likes you. But if you keep blowing her off she's going to think you're not interested. You are interested right?"

"She does seem to be able to keep up with me intellectually and understands my social awkwardness not to mention she is rather attractive. However we do work together and therefore it might not be a good idea to pursue anything since it would cut down on the efficiently of the workplace." Said Zack thinking about the statement but not giving a definitive answer, he hadn't really given it enough thought to do so just yet.

"A girl who _understands_ you and is _attractive _wants to spend time with you and you're contemplating this?" said Hodgins. "She's probably at the diner, I'm sure you can catch up with her."

Zack seemed to think about it for a moment before heading off to the diner. He found Spencer in the booth most people from the Jeffersonian sat in only she was not alone as he suspected. She was sitting with a blonde man dressed in a suit. Judging by how comfortably she was talking with him it was evident she knew the man very well. Not wanting to intrude on their conversation he headed back to the Jeffersonian.

"That was fast." Said Hodgins when he returned.

"She was conversing with another man. They seemed very comfortable around one another." He said not entirely sure of what he thought of the matter or why it seemed to bother him slightly.

"Oo tough luck." Said Hodgins.

"Hey I was going to take my lunch break? Anyone seen Spencer, I thought she might like to come with?" Said Angela walking over to where they were working.

"She left a few minutes ago." Said Hodgins. "Het, if you're looking for someone to eat with thought I'm not doing anything, I'm sure I could be a suitable replacement."

"I thought you had some research to do?" Said Zack.

"Thanks, but I was in the mood for some girl talk." Said Angela with a smile before leaving for lunch as well.

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Angela decided to go to the diner near the Jeffersonian and noticed Spencer was already there and she wasn't alone. The guy she was with was very good looking and the two of them were laughing about something when she joined them at the table.

"Hey Angela." Said Spencer with a smile when she joined them at the table.

"Are you going to introduce me to your friend here?" She said with a smirk.

"Angela this is Logan, he's my best friend from home and he's rooming with me for a bit. Logan this is Angela she works with me at the Jeffersonian."

"So you're into all the gross stuff she is?" Said Logan in disbelief.

"Hardly. I'm an artist. I do facial reconstructions. Spencer's here is not completely a lost cause. Sometimes she almost seems normal." Said Angela with a smirk.

"It's like learning a foreign language I can understand more than I can speak." Said Spencer also with a laugh.

"So Angela if you work in the same place as Spencer than you knows this Zack guy right?" Said Logan.

"Yeah, has Spencer mentioned him?" Said Angela with interest.

"I thought we said we weren't going to talk about this anymore." Said Spencer with a sigh. "I don't think he's interesting in pursuing anything more than a work relationship."

"How do you know for sure?" Said Logan rolling his eyes.

"Um, I'm a genius it's not that hard to figure out. I've asked him twice now if you wants to come to lunch with me and both times he's basically said no and socially speaking lunch in the most casual type of outing besides asking if someone wants to get a cup of coffee."

"You were probably being too subtle. You need to be direct with guys and well Zack he may be a genius when it comes to some things but women would probably be the only class he ever failed."

They talked for a little while longer and then Logan had to leave to do some P.I work for his case. He was actually doing quite well on the case however he had discovered some more information about the senator than him just cheating on his wife. He told Spencer he would be back tomorrow morning because he was planning on pulling an all night stake out.

Spencer and Angela headed back to the lab. Once there Angela went into her own office but not before saying. "You know dinner can also be a pretty casual meal to get to know someone better over." She said with a smirk and looking over at the platform where Zack was working with some bones.

"Yes it can be, but if I were you I wouldn't get your hopes up." Said Spencer rolling her eyes before heading over to the platform to see what Zack was working with. "So what happened to him?"

"Her." Said Zack correcting Spencer's mistake. "And she most likely died of childbirth. It was common of women in ancient Mesopotamia."

"Do we ever stop working at this place?" She said with a laugh.

"That was a rhetorical question." He after pausing for a moment to look up from his work.

"Yes, it was." She said as an awkward silence fell between the two of them. During this time Zack continued to work with the bones of the Mesopotamian woman and Spencer began very interested in some dirt under her fingernails. While they stood in silence Booth and Brennan had just arrived back to the Jeffersonian.

Booth noticed his partner was about to once again reprimand the new intern for not being at her work station but before she could he said "You know Bones, we don't have a case you could try being a little nicer to her."

"I'm not being mean to her Booth. For having such a high intellect she should have a better understanding of how conversing cuts down on the sufficiently of the workplace."

"You know I still haven't actually met her yet."

"But you don't like conversing with people of superior intellects unless it's for a case. You have Zack believing it's some kind of male understanding to not talk to one another unless you have to."

"Well yeah but I don't want to be rude and she spends time with Angela so she can't be that bad." Said Booth with a shrug.

As they pair headed over to the platform they caught the tail end of the conversation.

"So I was just thinking…"

"People are always thinking." Said Zack

"Well yes but it's a phrase used when someone wants to bring a sudden change in topic during a conversation or when they wish to end a lapse in conversation. Anyways…" Spencer started to say before she noticed Dr. Brennan and Booth were heading this towards them. "Sorry, I'm going back to my station." She said to Dr. Brennan.

"That's not why I'm here, Booth wanted to be properly introduced to you. Apparently he feels I am being unnecessarily mean to you by reminding you that are at work and this appears to be an attempt to divert me from doing so" Said Brennan her expression unreadable to Spencer as usual.

"Oh, I'm Spencer McLaughlin, the new intern." She said putting out a hand for him to shake.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth." He said with a smile. Spencer liked the Agent so far, at least he seemed more friendly than Dr. Brennan and he had a comforting almost fatherly feel about him. This feeling however was quickly gone when Dr. Brennan spoke again.

"Well now that's over with the two of you can resume your subtly sexual social interaction." Said Dr. Brennan to Spencer and Zack.

"Or…I could just go back to my station…" Said Spencer looking slightly embarrassed and leaving in a hurry.

"Bones…" Said Booth in a scolding tone as the girl walked away looking apologetically towards her retreating form.

"What? The way she carried herself around him and her constant use of protean signals such as constantly touching her hair suggest that in the vernacular she was flirting with him, which is often used when someone finds another person sexually attractive." Bones explained.

"I thought I might have been observing that, but given the fact I am generally incorrect about such things I just assumes I was misinterpreting." Said Zack.

"Right, well good luck with that." Said Booth patting Zack on the shoulder and ushering Dr. Brennan towards her office and reminder her that there were some things you just don't bring up in a conversation.

"She seems nice."Said Booth in regards to Spencer.

"I can't really determine that yet, I haven't conversed with her much. Though Zack seems to like her."

"Ah now I get it." Said Booth something dawning on him. "It's not so much that you don't like her, it's that you don't think she's good enough for Zack. That's why you're always making her go back to her station. You know my mom does the same thing when I bring home a girlfriend."

"Are you saying I'm like your mother?" Said Brennan looking confused.

"No! I was saying your acting like my mother does sometimes. Look never mind, think of it this way. Zack's your intern and you want what is best for him and the reason you don't want her around is because you don't think she's good enough for him."

"Although I want the best for Zack I merely just want him to be fully focused on his work and his doctorate, I don't care what he does with his social life. In actually Spencer has very nice bone structure and would probably be helpful to his social development, not to mention, given the fact they both have superior intellects they would have a higher likelihood of producing viable offspring."

"Whoa their Bones! Maybe he should take her out to dinner first, before you start talking about…you know." Said Booth not liking where the conversation was headed. Luckily he was able to quickly change the conservation to talking about the case they had just closed because he really did not want to be thinking about what Bones had just mentioned.

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The rest of the day was rather uneventful; Spencer stayed over by her station and helped Dr. Hodgins with his research. She realized she almost preferred Dr. Brennan telling her to go back to her station rather than making commentary on the interaction between her and Zack, but she supposed that was the dangers of working with an anthropologist, to them people and their social interactions could be observed and studied at anytime.

Of course when they had dinner at the diner that night nothing between them was odd, well actually Spencer still felt a bit odd about the comment earlier but since Zack seemed completely unfazed by it she was just following his lead. That night Angela had not come to dinner with them, because apparently she had plans, which meant it was just Zack, Spencer and Hodgins that night.

"I wonder what Angela had to do tonight?" Said Hodgins during a lull in the conversation.

"I think she had a date." Said Spencer recalling an earlier conversation.

"I bet it won't go well." Said Hodgins with a shrug.

"How can you possibly know that?" said Zack looking confused.

"He doesn't, its wishful thinking." Said Spencer with a smirk. "Oh don't act all surprised, you stare at her constantly."

"You leave the house without shoes on, but you notice that." Said Hodgins rolling his eyes.

"Hey, that was on accident I'm absent minded at times. And just because I may not be a genius when it comes to that sort of thing that doesn't mean I'm completely ignorant of the subject. However if you want I can ask her how it went when she and I got shopping Saturday."

"Yeah but isn't there like some kind of girl code that says you can't tell me what she said."

"Probably, but I suppose I would have to tell you if you threatened to fire me." Said Spencer with a smirk.

"Oh, I like the way you think Intern." Said Hodgins with a smile.

Spencer stayed a little while longer before she decided to head home and get some sleep before work the next morning. Zack and Hodgins left soon after and on the drive back to Hodgins house he turned to Zack and said "So?"

"I'm not sure as to what you are inquiring about."

"Spencer, are you going to ask her out?" Said Hodgins looking over at Zack, who looked uncomfortable as always in the vehicle.

"I think you should probably keep your attention on the road." He said waiting until Hodgins did so before answering the question. "And to answer your earlier question, probably not."

"Why?"

"Because there was that other man in the diner and the rational thing for me to be doing at the moment is working on my dissertation so I can get my doctorate, part of the reason Dr. Brennan is so efficient at her work is because she makes distractions in her life minimal. It only makes sense I do the same."

"Personally, I won't mind a bit of a 'distraction' in my life."

"That's because you're not a very rational person, you actually believe you have a chance with Angela." Said Zack causing Hodgins to glare at him.

"Hey! Don't underestimate me, I can make it happen." Said Hodgins.

"Of course it could happen; it would be foolish to say otherwise. It's just statistically unlikely."

"Like running into a cute stranger from the grocery store at your workplace?" Said Hodgins causing Zack to now glare over him as well.

"That was an unforeseen anomaly."

"Whatever you what to call it." Said Dr. Hodgins with a laugh as they pulled up to the front gate of the house.

**Yeah a bit of an odd place to end the chapter but it seemed fitting. Anyways don't forget to review.**


	5. The Importance of Facts

**Wow, sorry it took so long to update. I've been super busy. Thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews and I'm glad I have some regulars reading this story now. I always love new people thought too ****. Anyways this is a bit of a longer chapter. I hope you enjoy it.**

Spencer was very happy to be done with the Howard Epps case. Although she did not know the man he still seemed really creepy and the case had put everyone else on the team on edge. Now that they had solved it everyone seemed to be relaxed and glad to have a bit of a break. At the moment since there were no remains to be working with Spencer could be found in the place she usually gravitated towards when there was nothing to do and Dr. Brennan was not around.

Zach didn't really mind her being over near his work station, he had rationalized that in the grand scheme of things there was really no harm in her distracting him from work that was not very time sensitive such as cases often were. Today however he was determined to actually get some work on his dissertation and therefore had asked her to leave him alone.

This however did not last long because she was soon back again. She said nothing to him as she took at seat on the edge of the desk he was working at and grabbed one of the pages he had just printed out and started to read it. He noticed her pull out a red pen and begin to mark some things on the page. This went on for a few minutes while he tried to concentrate on his work before he finally asked "What are you doing?"

"Editing." She said not looking up from her work but marking something on the page. She had decided that even though Zack had made it clear that he didn't want to pursue much outside of a work relationship she figured there was no harm in at least being friends with him. So she had spend the last few days trying to not show signs of what Dr. Brennan pointed out as flirting.

"Why?" He said watching her work.

"Because Dr. Hodgins doesn't have anything for me to do, I don't feel like working on my dissertation and I like editing stuff." She said looking up from her work for a moment before looking down and circling something. She usually always looked directly at him when she was talking to him but the past couple of days she was more interested in whatever was nearby rather than him and for some reason this bothered him, although he had no idea why.

"How can you edit my paper, you don't have an extensive knowledge of bones."

"That is correct but I do know when you have a run on sentence and when you are missing an important step of the scientific method." She said handing him a page she had completed.

Before he could reply someone else spoke. "And how are you today Ms. McLaughlin?" Said the sharp voice of Dr. Brennan. In an effort to be friendlier to her Dr. Brennan asked Spencer this question every day however it still always caught her off guard and often caused her train of thought to completely derail.

"Fine…" She asked after a moment's hesitation at least this time she didn't nearly have a heart attack when the question was asked so out of the blue. Dr. Brennan just nodded before heading into her office with Agent Booth to fill out some paperwork to close the case they had just worked on.

"Half this page is red." Said Zack with a sigh looking at all the corrections he would have to make.

"Yeah… sorry I'm a bit of a grammar Nazi." Said Spencer with a shrug.

"You know Intern, you spend more time over in the bones side of the lab then you do the bugs and slime part. I'm starting to get worried." Said Hodgins coming over to join the conversation.

"I'm never going to finish my dissertation." Mumbled Zack.

"Maybe if you actually gave me something to do, I could be over there." Said Spencer rolling her eyes

"I've tried that but you finish all the meaningless tasks I give you way too quickly. For someone who's so scatter brained at times you are far too efficient for your own good." Said Hodgins.

Before Spencer could retort however Angela came over to join the group and said "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, sure." Said Spencer knowing Angela was referring to the shopping trip they had been planning for some time now.

"Go where?" Said Zack confused by the statement and thinking the question Angela had asked referred to everyone present.

"A designer boutique. I am boldly going where no nerdy girl has gone before."

"My friend designs clothes for them so he's giving us a discount and helping me give Spence a makeover." Said Angela with a smile.

"There's nothing wrong with your appearance now." Said Zack. Spencer of course by now assumed anything Zack said that sounded like a compliment was an objective observation and tried to ignore the feeling of flattery she felt from the statement.

"That may be, but I just want to dress a bit more sophisticated. Then maybe people will stop carding me for stuff. I don't mind it as bars so much but the rated R movies thing is really started to get to me."

"They just want to make sure you don't see anything you shouldn't." Said Hodgins with a laugh. Everyone knew Spencer looked rather young for her age.

"Oh if only they knew what I did for a living." Said Spencer with a laugh before her and Angela left leaving Hodgins and Zack alone.

"Did you notice she quoted Star Trek?"

"No she altered the phrase to boldly go where no man has gone before that's not quoting." Said Zack turning his attention back to his work, before Hodgins could retort he said "And before you tell me once again that I am being an idiot I would also like to point out that she completely ignored my attempt at flattery."

"Wait, so you are interested in her?" Said Hodgins confused.

"I was never not interested in her. I merely said that I wasn't going to pursue anything because I should be focusing on my dissertation. However it seems that I do not do well in most social situations and I've been thinking that perhaps pursing relationships outside of those required for work would be good for me."

"And the fact that you think she's hot and is in to sci-fi has nothing to do with it." Said Hodgins with a smirk.

"I'm trying to get some work done." Said Zack who was looking at all the corrects on his paper.

Meanwhile Angela and Spencer had finally made it to boutique where Angela's friend designed clothes. Currently they were shifted through rack and rack of clothing in the back of the store. The clothes they were looking through hadn't even gone on sale yet. Angela was pulling item after item off the racks and handing it to Spencer to try on. As they did so they talked about work, guys and other stuff. Spencer imagined this was what it would feel like to go shopping with a big sister.

"What about this?" Said Angela holding up a black and white polka dotted dress with a red belt.

"I'm not a big dress person." Said Spencer.

"But you would look really cute in it." Said Angela. "Not to mention it would show off your legs, and maybe it would help caught a certain someone's attention."

"Angela for the last time, I'm not trying anything with Zack. Actually I just read a book on the matter that was very enlightening even if it wasn't a scientific study."

"What book?"

"I think it was called He's just not hat into you or something like that." Said Spencer with a shrug.

"Sweetie, that book is depressing."

"But informative."

"Just try on the dress and buy it so we can show you off to some guy who will appreciate your legs." Said Angela rolling her eyes and handing the dress over to Spencer.

She took it and said "I would much rather find a guy who appreciates my brain, rather than my legs."

"That may be, but they don't make cute clothes for brains." Said Angela with a laugh.

It took awhile but they eventually found a style that made both of them happy. A lot of the things Angela picked out at first made Spencer feel uncomfortable, in the sense that it just didn't feel like her. Finally however she found a few outfits she really liked and had purchased them all. It was a lot more than she would have usually spend on clothes but in looking at the price tag of some of the other items in the store Spencer realized they were getting the clothes for next to nothing compared to their usual price.

After the boutique they went to a makeup store. All the stuff seemed rather foreign to her since she never wore make up before. They went back to Spencer's apartment and Angela showed her how to style her hair and put on some make up. Ever since Logan had gone back to California her apartment felt kind of empty and she realized she missed having someone to talk to in the evenings, she was glad she had plans tonight to distract her from this.

"Alright all done." Said Angela finally allowing Spencer to see herself in a mirror. Her hair was down and her bangs were swept to the side of her face, she had on some makeup but it was mostly just around the eyes bringing out the slight amount of green in them. The outfit she was wearing was a grey flowing tank top with yellow and black squares on it; she had on a pair of tight dark blue jeans and a pair of dark purple flats.

"I look…" Said Spencer not really sure what to say.

"You look hot." Said Angela with a smile.

"I suppose I do." Said Spencer looking at herself in the mirror some more, surprised by the outcome.

"I bet a certain someone will think so as well." Said Angela with a smirk.

Before Spencer could answer however her phone rang and she looked at the number realizing who it was and answered it.

"Hi Dad." She said.

"Why didn't you tell me some stole your credit card?" He said sounding frantic.

"Because…no one did?" Said Spencer confused by the statement.

"So you bought all those clothes then?" Said her dad sounding just as confused.

"Yeah, I need to update my wardrobe." Said Spencer with a shrug.

"Update your waredrobe?" Said her dad in disbelief. He paused for a moment and Spencer knew this pause meant he was processing information he had just received. "This is about a boy."

"No! It's not." She said although she realized it kind of was.

"Kid, you've never been a good liar." Said her Dad with a laugh.

"Dad, if I wanted this guy's attention clothes won't help, now maybe if I was just a bunch of bones that's a different story." Said Spencer.

"Bones?" Said her Dad, and Spencer knew by his tone that he was shaking his head. "You sure know how to pick'em don't you?"

"What's that supposed to me?"

"You last boyfriend's house looked like that guys from Silence of the Lambs all he needed was to be sewing a flesh suit." He snorted.

"He was an entomologist and those moths he housed were very rare."

"Well this Zack Addy guy doesn't seem too bad." Said her dad, she could hear the sound of the file cabinet being opened and she knew he must be looking at a file.

"Wait how do you know that. Logan told you, didn't he?" Said Spencer. Although she loved her dad sometimes she wished he didn't have to know everything about her life.

"He may have mentioned something. Also I have files on all your co-workers."

"You also have my credit card statements apparently." She said sounding slightly annoyed. "Dad, I thought you were going to let me be on my own for once?"

"I know, I'm trying. I only had the credit card company calling me if you had any strange charges."

"Clothes are a strange charge?"

"For you, yes." He said with a laugh.

"Hey I'm allowed to grow as a person aren't I?" She said sharing his laugh.

"Yes, you are but it means you aren't going to need me anymore and as a father that always scares me."

"And as a daughter I'm supposed to scare you." She said before saying goodbye. Angela who had been listening to the whole conversation said with a smile.

"Your Dad seems pretty overprotective of you."

"Yeah he is, but he only wants to make sure I'm safe. And he's good about it, he doesn't really overstep his boundaries too often. I can tell this me living so far away thing is really hard on him."

"Yeah you two seem pretty close." Said Angela with a smile. "Okay now it's time to show you off."

What Angela had meant by that statement was that they would be hitting a local club. Angela knew someone who knew the owner so they got in rather quickly. Spencer was not at all in her comfort zone. The music was too loud and the lights were flashing a lot making her very thankful she was not prone to epilepsy. She never was very big on dancing, because she always felt it required a certain grace that she lacked. She also wasn't big on drinking because she didn't like anything that tampered with her brain chemistry. Which was what she had just told the rather good looking guy who had offered to buy her a drink. He just gave her a weird look before moving on to the next girl.

"Sweetie, next time smile, say yes, and then flirt a little." Said Angela rolling her eyes.

"You know if you want to dance you should. I'll be alright just hanging here. I mean at least we know I can fend of creeps well. I just have to talk science to them." Said Spencer. She could tell Angela was getting bored just standing by the bar.

"Are you sure?" Said Angela hesitating before Spencer once again encouraged her to have some fun. While Angela danced Spencer had a few boring conversations with random guys who approached her and she was almost thinking of telling Angela she wanted to leave when a familiar voice said "If it weren't for the purple shoes I might not have recognized you Intern."

"Oh thank god, smart people." She said with a sigh of relief hugging her mentor, and Zack who had accompanied him. He seemed surprised by her display of affection. "What are you doing here?" She asked the two of them.

"I know someone who owns the place and I heard Angela mention it one time. I thought she might bring you here." Said Hodgins with a shrug. The fact of the matter was he knew the owner very well because he was the owner and he knew Angela would bring Spencer her because she had asked him earlier in the week if he would put them on a list. He however still had not told his new intern about his financial situation.

"This music is going to do damage to my hearing." Shouted Zack over the noise.

"I know, that's what I told Angela." Said Spencer "Apparently this is considered fun. Angela's over there dancing." She said pointing her out so Hodgins wouldn't have to scan the dance floor.

"Well I'm going to go say hi, try not to have too much fun you two." He said looking at the two scientists that looked rather uncomfortable. Zack's brow was knitted in irritation from the blaring music and Spencer was fiddling with a new necklace that she wore and looked as though she was trying to hide the fact she would rather be anywhere but here at the moment. Hodgins left the couple and went to go and talk to Angela. It was after all part of the plan to make sure that Zack and Spencer spent as much time together as possible. It had been Angela's idea to try and help the give the pair a push in the right direction and although he agreed with plan to some level the real reason he was involved in it was because it gave him a good reason to talk to Angela.

When she spotted him in the crowd she waved him over and led him over to a quieter section of the club.

She began to ask him a million questions. "Did you bring Zack? Does he think she looks pretty? I mean she looks pretty good if I do say so myself. Well come on details."

"He thinks the music is too loud. That's about all I got out of him." Said Hodgins with a shrug.

"That's it." Said Angela sounding kind of annoyed.

"It's Zack what did you expect? Though he did mention that it might be good for him to pursue relationships outside of those needed for work, or something like that, so it's a start."

"Well he's better say something. We spent a long time picking out those outfits."

Meanwhile Spencer and Zack stood over by the bar not really saying anything to each other because neither of them could think of anything to say really and the music was making normal conversing rather difficult. Spencer finally thought of something to say but was interrupted by a random guy and his friend coming over to talk to her.

"Hey, how's it go'n?" Said one of the guys.

"Fine." She lied kind of hoping if she didn't talk much he might just leave.

"So you come here often?" He asked standing closer to her than she found comfortable.

"No." She said trying to inch away from the guy in question but he just closed the distance.

"Hey, what are you drinking? I'll buy you a drink." He said.

"I'm fine thanks." She said still looking rather uncomfortable.

"I think she wants you to leave her alone." Said Zack who had been standing next to the group and watching the exchange the whole time.

"Am I talking to you?" Said the guy looking kind of annoyed.

"Well no but given her stance and her look of discomfort it is evident she doesn't really want to talk to you. Most people would have given up by now. Although you seem like the type of male who would view rejection as an attack on your male dominance and therefore may not understand the concept." Zack explained. However this did not seem to make the guy go away now he just looked sort of pissed off.

"What are you trying to say? That I'm stupid or something?" said the guy and his friend now approaching Zack.

"Zack, let's just go and find Angela and Hodgins." Said Spencer thinking it would be best to get away from these guys.

"I can't really make a definite assessment of your intelligence, though in comparison to me I generally think most people are not very intelligent." Explained Zack.

"Right so you are calling me stupid. I think we need to take this outside." Said the guy, looking pretty pissed. Spencer noticed the guy was actually shorter than Zack but he looked much stronger and perhaps his height was a factor in his need for confrontation.

"Yes, I think you would be able to better hear my explanation without the music." Shouted Zack over the noise. He was oblivious to what he was about to get himself into and Spencer not sure how to best defuse the situation didn't really know what to do.

"Um Zack, that's not what he means." Said Spencer as the group all started to head towards the back door nearby.

"Oh what does he mean then?" Said Zack looking confused.

"He wants to fight you."

"He must have viewed my interference as a challenge and now he feels he needs to redeem himself in a physical altercation, also given his short statue he may feel the need to prove himself. I believe the term Napoleonic Complex sums it up nicely. I should probably clarify that I have no desire to fight him." Said Zack opening the door that lead outside.

"Um, yeah try that. I'll go get help." She said. Zack was swept outside by a crowd of people and Spencer quickly scanned the club for Hodgins or Angela but couldn't find them anywhere. When she opened the door to outside she found a small group had formed around Zack and the guy. Zack had begun to explain why he was out here in the first place when he was cut short by a rather nasty blow to the jaw that actually knocked him to the ground. Spencer rummaged in her purse for the can of mace she was looking for and pushed her way through the crowd. Without any warning she approached the guy in question and sprayed him in the face with the can of mace.

"Holy shit I can't see!" he said holding his hands to his face.

"That will wear off in half an hour." She explained before looking at his friend and saying. "Maybe you should lead him out of here unless you want us to charge him with assault."

After she said this, the crowd quickly dispersed and she went over to see if Zack was okay. He was sitting in the middle of the ally using his shirt sleeve to try and stop the bleeding. His lip had been cracked and he had a feeling there would be bruising on his mandible.

"You have got to be one of the dumbest smart people I know." She said with a sigh pulling out some gauze from the first aid kit she always carried in her purse. She knelt down so she was now face to face with him.

"Mace usually just irritates the eyes it doesn't cause actual blindness."

"I may have altered the mace with a few more chemical. I blinded him with science" She said with bitter laugh before surveying the damage and applying pressure to the injury. "What the hell were you thinking?" She said wondering what could have possibly compelled him to get involved in something like this in the first place.

"He was making you uncomfortable. I thought mentioning it would make him leave not want to be involved in a physical altercation with me. Though you do look very nice tonight to I would imagine that was why he felt the need to impress you."

For a moment Spencer noticed that statement sounded rather sweet, but once again reminded herself he probably didn't mean it like that.

"Yeah well it was a lot of work on Angela's part. You wouldn't believe how much make-up she tried to put on me." She said with a shrug, trying to ignore the fact that her heart had skipped a beat at the unintentional compliment.

"That doesn't really matter though; you'll always look nice because you have good bone structure."

"See, that sounded like a compliment but I know you are going to tell me it's a fact. So really it's just an objective observation." She said saying what she constantly said in her mind out loud.

"I've also said that facts were better than compliment. Facts are irrefutable and compliments are just personal options."

She mumbled something and he though she said "Maybe I want to hear your option."

"Facts are irrefutable, they are important to science and without them we would not have a good understanding of the world, they…" Said Zack trying to explain though he wasn't quite sure how. He knew he was never very good at certain social things, but he always had the feeling Spencer understood what he was trying to say, at the moment however when he actually needed her to be on the same page as him it seemed she was not.

Spencer not really in the mood for a lecture on the importance of facts. "Zack if you keep trying to talk, this will never stop bleeding." She said with a sigh.

"Facts are important to me." He said not listening to her and trying to better formulate his thoughts.

"I would imagine so." Said Spencer not really sure why he was so stuck on this topic.

"You look very nice tonight." He said and this seemed to be the one reoccurring piece of information his mind was stuck on.

"Okay how hard did you get hit in the head there?" She said with a laugh realizing he was repeating himself.

"I was hit in the mandible; my brain should be fine…" He said before she interrupted him again.

"Zack, your lip…" She said before he interrupted her.

"Is not bleeding that much anymore. What I'm trying to say is that I tell you that you look nice because it is a fact. I use facts because I think they are sounder than compliments."

Spencer could not be certain that she was interpreting that statement correctly; her first thought was that he was saying this because he meant that facts were better than compliments and he thought she deserved what was best. However she was already starting to become accustomed to the fact that Zack had little or no interest in her, she had concluded that Zack being interested in her was highly unlikely, maybe even a little crazy. Then again crazy things had happened before, for example she was currently sitting in a ally taking care of her co-worker who was probably the least likely person she could think of to get involved in a bar fight. Well actually that wasn't entirely true she imagined Ghandi or the Pope weren't the typical bar fighter either.

"You know most girls would prefer compliments." She said with a smirk.

"That would probably be because they do not have an appreciation for the scientific method and the importance of facts." He said with a smile, realizing that she had understood what he had meant by the statement.

**Yeah kind of an odd place to end the chapter but I felt like it worked for what I planned with the next one. Anyways don't forget to review I love to hear feedback. **


	6. Testing a Hypothesis

**I'm so glad so many people like the story so far. I'm having a blast writing it. Thanks so much for all the reviews. Here is another chapter.**

Angela realized she was actually having a really good time. She knew of course it was basically just her and Hodgins but still, she found time passing rather quickly. In fact she had been enjoying herself so much she didn't even think about the reason Hodgins was here in the first place until much later into the night.

"Hey, where is Zack and Spencer?" She said doing a quick scan of the place and not spotting them.

"Huh, I don't know." Said Hodgins also looking around.

"Maybe they went back to Spencer's she only lives a few blocks from here." Said Angela.

At this Hodgins let out a snort and said "I highly doubt that, this is Zack we are talking about."

"I meant to like talk about some geek shows or something." Said Angela rolling her eyes.

"I'll give them a call." Said Hodgins heading outside where it was less noisy. Angela followed him and he put the phone on speaker when he made the call. Even though he called Zack's phone Spencer answered.

"Hey where are you guys?"

"We're at the diner." Said Spencer before he could ask why she explained. "Zack got in a fight, and we decided to go somewhere quiet that had ice…"

"Did she just say what I think she said?" Angela said looking over at Hodgins in disbelief.

Hodgins had an incredulous look on his face. "I'm sorry the connection must not be very good. Did you just say Zack got in a fight?"

"I accidently got in a physical altercation with a man at the club because of Spencer." Explained Zack, which meant that Spencer probably had to phone on speaker as well.

"Okay we're on our way over." Hodgins said before hanging up. He turned to Angela with a giddy smile and said "I've just got to hear this story."

"Story?"

"Zack got in a fight. There has to be a good story behind that." Explained Hodgins.

"Yeah no kidding." She laughed. "Zack got in a fight…" She said as though saying it once again would actually confirm it had happened.

Meanwhile at the diner Zack and Spencer sat mostly in silence. Spencer still couldn't quite believe what had just happened, but she also felt slightly flattered that he had defended her, even if it was on accident. When she ordered a coffee he took the ice off his mouth and said.

"If you drink something caffeinated at this hour you're going to be up all night." She was in the middle of telling the waitress she wanted decaf when he said this. So she finished her thought before saying with a shrug. "I just like the taste of coffee."

They were silent once again until she said "You know I never did thank you."

"For what?" He said looking confused.

"For coming to my aide, well accidently but still." She said with a smile. Before he could reply however he noticed Angela and Hodgins had arrived and this caught Spencer's attention as well. She waved them over to the table.

They said down and Spencer explained exactly how Zack accidently got involved in a as he put it a physical altercation with the man from the club. It was a story that was constantly retold, but was quickly topped the next day at work when their new victim was brought in.

At the moment Spencer was separating all the different parts of their victim, bone went to Zack or Dr. Brennan, fat and tissue went to Dr. Saroyan, and basically everything else went to her and Dr. Hodgins. This was a rather daunting task because their victim was in a bathtub…or at least what was left of him was.

She had found a few small bone fragments so she decided to bring them over to Zack because Dr. Brennan was busy talking to Agent Booth. After placing the bones on his desk she asked "How's your lip?"

"It should heal fine, I don't foresee any complications." He said with a smile looking over at her. Today she was dressed the way she usually did before her make over, much to Angela's dismay. The only thing that was different was when she had first come in to work she had worn her hair down rather than pulled back in the usual ponytail. This however did not last long because of the emulsified nature of their victim it was pulled back and out of the way. "I realize I have failed to mention you look nice today."

"Angela's pissed she spent all that time teaching me to put on makeup and I'm not wearing any. But it takes like half an hour and I'm not really a morning person, so I basically look the same as I always do." She said with a shrug trying to seem nonchalant about it biting her lip to keep from smiling. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to the two of them conversing otherwise Dr. Brennan might say something again.

"Still, it seemed worth stating."

"I see, and is that a fact?" She said with a smirk giving up on her earlier goal.

"Yes, it is." He said before turning his attention to the bone fragments she had just given him.

"Good, I would hate it if it were a compliment." She laughed before heading back to the tub of their victim. She knew the minute he had turned his attention on the bones he had gone into work mode which meant that he was focused solely on the case at the moment. She knew it was a good time to leave because Dr. Brennan was heading over, as they passed one another they exchanged their usual pleasantries and went their separate ways. Spencer was actually very busy with work today and therefore did not spend as much time over at Zack's station as she usually would. She figured she wouldn't see him as much as she usually did but she was pleasantly surprised when he came over to where she was working.

"Take a look at this." He said holding up a jar of some liquid to her.

"Besides a jar, what exactly am I looking at?" She said inspecting it closer.

"This is the victim's wallet."

"That is so cool." She said with excitement looking at the jar.

"I know, but when I showed it to Agent Booth he didn't seem to think so. Also it's your turn to sift; I should start getting the bones ready for Dr. Brennan." Said Zack. The two of them walked over to where the tub was located. Spencer picked up the sifter and noticed some fragments of copper.

"How did these get there?" She said with interest. She had that look on her face that suggested she was on to something she just didn't know what.

"I figured they were from the fixtures." Said Zack with a shrug.

"I don't think so." She said brow knitted in confusion.

"Then where did they come from?"

"I don't know, but I have a feeling it's not from the fixtures."

"You have a feeling?" He said incredulously.

"Yeah, you can blame my dad for the whole learning to trust your gut thing. Usually it's kind of pointless but sometimes it helps me make further inquiries and research some more things that usually led to hard evidence." She said with a shrug.

"That doesn't sound very full proof."

"Yes but my hunches usually lead to some pretty good facts. If I'm right you owe me dinner." She said with a laugh as she put on some gloves to begin sifting. She had said the last part in a joking manner and was therefore not expecting Zack to reply with what he did.

"I could buy you dinner regardless of whether or not you guess properly."

"I'm not questioning if you have the finances to do so. I was merely making a friendly bet that I was right and you were wrong." She said assuming it was this rather then what she her mind had first jumped to.

"Oh I was suggesting that we attempt to further test our compatibility in a different social context and setting." He said with a shrug.

It took her a moment to process what exactly he meant by that and it caused her to drop the sifter into the tub. She grimaced before grabbing the pitch fork and attempting to fish it out.

"Zack you do realize that sounds like you are asking me out right?" She said continuing in vain to get the sifter.

"I am aware. Well since we get along fine at work and outside of work when we are with friends, and I find you attractive the next logical step would be to ask you out on a date to see if we are compatible in a more romantic sense or if it goes horribly then we already know we work well friends and co-workers." While he was explaining himself Spencer had put on the strongest gloves they had so she could just reach into the mess and pull out the sifter.

"Yes." She said rather quickly but fixed that by saying. "I mean yes, that reasoning is rather sound so I think it would be a good idea."

"What time works best for you?"

"Um…one when I'm not up to my elbows in biohazardous materials?" She said with a smirk pulling out the sifter. "Or basically any time after work."

"Okay, do you want to go after work today?"

"Um, I don't know how long it will take me to sort through all of this." Said Spencer looking at the tub.

"If I leave you alone for a while you can probably finish rather quickly."

"Okay, yeah sure. I'll have to go home and change first though."

"Why?" He said looking confused.

"Generally most people try and look nicer than they do on a daily basis when they go on a date."

"We aren't most people." Said Zack with a shrug before heading back over to his workstation.

When he was on his lunch break Zack headed over to where Hodgins was working.

"I'm going to take the bus home today, do you think you could pick me up at the stop near your house."

"Sure." Said Hodgins not really listening but once he processed the information he looked up from his work and said "Wait, why?"

"I have a date."

At this Hodgins let out a laugh and said "Yeah…right, working late again then?"

"No, I asked Spencer if she wanted to go to dinner with me."

"Well it's about time." He said rolling his eyes. "Wait you actually took time off work to ask her that? When?"

"Well I didn't really plan to. I was just going to show her the emulsified wallet when we went over to were the victim is stored and she mentioned something about dinner while she was sifting through the contents of the tub, her hair was doing that thing where pieces of it fall in front of her face, actually she should really try and find better securing devices for that, but that's not the point, basically for some reason I just asked." He said looking confused. "Thought because I find her attractive my brain is probably releasing more dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, therefore it could just be a chemical imbalance that is impairing my judgment."

"Or you just like her and that makes you do stupid things." Said Hodgins rolling his eyes.

As the day went on Spencer was kept busy with the case and as the evening went on one by one everyone started to pack up and head home. She soon realized the only people who were left in the lab beside herself were Dr. Brennan who was in her office, and Zack who was currently waiting for her to finish her work so they could leave.

"I'm sorry I just want to finish some tests on the copper fragments. This is going to bug me all night if I don't figure it out." She said looking over at Zack with an apologetic smile.

"Maybe you should take a break you're the one who told me it's better to stop if no ideas are coming to you."

"I've never been very good a following my own advice sometimes." She said with a sigh. "I just like answers to important questions."

"No, I understand completely. I'll just get some work done on my dissertation." He said with a small smile before heading over to his work station.

The hours went by and even Dr. Brennan had left at this point in time.

"It's bird shot." Spencer said coming over to his table where he was working. "We can tell Dr. Brennan in the morning."

"Wait, but that would mean our victim was shot. Is a bird shot enough to kill him?" Said Zack and Spencer felt as though she could almost see the cogs in his mind began to turn.

"Oh no, we're going to be here all night if you start trying to figure out if that was cause of death." She said in a warning tone.

"But given the scenario we were discussing earlier in the day if the victim was shot the force may have been enough to…"

"Zack." She said interrupting his train of thought.

"I'll think about it later. Where do you want to go for dinner?"

"You didn't have a place in mind? I don't know where anything is in this city, not to mention I'm not properly dressed for most of the places that are open at this hour." She said realizing what time it was. Most of the restaurants that would be open this late were fancy eateries or posh clubs and such, nothing that really accepted jeans and a t-shirt as proper attire.

"That's true; I suppose we can do this another time."

"We could still have dinner together tonight we can just eat something here. I mean granted it's not a traditional date but I still haven't actually seen any part of the Jeffersonian except the lab it would be interesting to see." She said not really wanting to go home to her empty apartment and eat dinner in front of the television while watching Discovery channel like she did on nights they did not go to the diner.

"Well the diner is probably closed by now and all I have to eat here is mac and cheese."

"Then we can eat it while we walk around the institute." She said with a shrug.

She was right it was by no means a traditional date but that still didn't stop the two of them from enjoying themselves. They walked around the Jeffersonian eating mac and cheese out of the microwavable easy mac containers and all the while talking and laughing. Spencer became very interested in a display on some rare types of moths when Zack asked something that had been bothering him for some time. "Why did you go out with me?"

"You know technically we still haven't left work and therefore I haven't yet." She said with a laugh looking up from the display and over at him. She was giving him a hard time but it was in a jovial matter.

"Yes, I realize that. It's just I'm not the type of guy many women generally want to spend a lot of time with."

"Well I like spending time with you Zack, because you don't find me weird."

"But you have fairly developed social skills and you get along very well with other people, you could easily spend time with other people."

"Yes, but it's a lot of working being like that. When I'm around you I know it's okay if I slip up and say something about pharmacogenomics or empirical law. I like being able to be myself." She said with a smile.

"I like that you don't find the fact that I have limited knowledge of social situations off-putting." He said also with a smile.

"Yes, well it's a little awkward or even frustrating sometimes but most of the time it's kind of cute." She said stepping a little closer to him. He noticed she was still smiling.

"I'm in the process of reading a book on body language but I haven't gotten that far in it, but given the fact that you've been getting considerably closer to me and you keep looking at my mouth, I think you're trying to tell me you want to kiss me." He said making an observation.

"It's a good hypothesis but I think it could use some further testing." She said with a smirk before closing the distance between the two of them. Her lips were softer than he expected and very smooth he reasoned that this was because she was always putting on Chap Stick. Spencer felt him wrap and arm around her waist pulling her closer and she noticed he was stronger than she had originally thought. It also just felt, right, she couldn't think of any other word to explain it, she had been worried the first time she kissed him might have been awkward and that he would have been as robotic as his speech could be at times but this was not the case. When they finally broke apart they still maintained a close distance.

He was the first to speak. "The thing about a good hypothesis however is that one test is never enough to prove it is indeed successful." He sounded very rational about it as though he was talking about any other experiment but she could see a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"You know, I was just thinking the same thing." She said with a smile.

They walked around the Jeffersonian some more until both of them realized they would have to get up for work in the morning. He walked her home and they said goodbye to one another. At this point in time Zack realized he might as well just stay at the Jeffersonian rather than take the bus and have Hodgins pick him up so he headed back there. Most people may have been unhappy about the prospect of spending over 24 hours in their place of work but Zack had always been fond of the Jeffersonian, after all he thought with a smile, many of the best moments of his life had occurred there.

**Well there you have it another chapter. Don't forget to review please, you guys are awesome for giving me feedback.**


	7. Coffee

**Well I have finally had time to update. It's been pretty crazy for me. Hope you enjoy this next chapter, I thought the end bit was pretty funny.**

Dr. Brennan being the skilled anthropologist she was could tell that something was different today. Although it seemed like every other day when she entered the lab she knew something was not the same. Ms. McLaughlin was not over at her station but rather by the lab table where some bone fragments were as well as Zack, and as always Dr. Brennan knew that Spencer was over at the table for Zack rather than the bones. What was different today however was the comfort level between the pair suggested that they had confirmed their mutual attraction towards one another.

"Dr. Brennan, Spencer discovered that the copper fragments in the tub where from a bird shot." Said Zack once Dr. Brennan came over to the table.

"Well I wouldn't have noticed it if Zack didn't suggest that they came from the fixtures." Said Spencer with a smile looking over at Zack.

"Yes, well regardless Ms. McLaughlin…" Said Dr. Brennan before Spencer interrupted her and said "I should be back at my station."

Before she left however she said to Zack, "I'll see you later then?" He nodded and she headed over to her work station where Dr. Hodgins was looking at some evidence.

"So…" He said sounding like he didn't care about what he was about to ask but the fact that he was asking suggested he really did. "Zack didn't come home last night…"

"He didn't?" Said Spencer confused for a moment. "Oh he must have just stayed at the lab." She said before glaring over at him. "And I don't sleep with a guy on the first date. I have standards thank you very much."

"I know, I was joking." Said Hodgins with a laugh. "I'm just glad he finally asked you out, he's been driving me crazy. I don't think he realizes this but he mentions you a lot. It's always just subtly slipped into his sentences maybe now that he asked you out it will stop. Where did you guys go anyway?"

"We didn't go anywhere we stayed here."

"You can't have a date in the lab." Scoffed Hodgins.

"Why not?" Said Spencer defensively.

"Um, because the phase going out means you actually have to you know, go somewhere."

"Alright, then in that case we went to the next building over. And stop trying to rain on my parade; I had a really great time last night okay?" She said realizing this statement was very true. She liked spending time with Zack one on one. She also liked the fact that their date had been none traditional. Zack may not be very good with certain social things but he was sweet.

"Okay." He said with a laugh before mumbling something Spencer could not hear.

Later that day Spencer found herself in a room with basically the whole gang from the Jeffersonian the only person missing was Zack. He had been given the opportunity to leave the lab to gather some evidence. It was strange for Spencer to be around everyone because she realized this rarely happened. She also realized that while she was so busy observing how strange it was to have everyone in the same room she had not even been listening to the conversation. She was brought back to it by the arrival of Zack entering the room.

"I think I scored, Dr. Brennan." He said holding a bag of evidence.

"Someone just kill me right now." Muttered Booth. Hodgins just looked over and Spencer and said "You know he's my friend and all but it's not too late to change your mind."

At this Spencer just laughed and shook her head. Booth turned his attention over to Spencer and Hodgins while Brennan and Zack began going into the technical details of cause of death.

"Wait, so he really did ask you out?" Said Booth just thankful they were no longer talking about him getting back together with Rebecca.

"Yes, he did and I had great time." Said Spencer crossing her arms.

"They ate TV dinners and walked around the Jeffersonian." Hodgins chimed in knowing he would get a reaction from Booth.

Booth chuckled and said "That's not a date."

"Why not?" Said Spencer starting to get annoyed about everyone's comments.

"Well, cause you're supposed to pick the girl up at her house, you know take her out to a nice meal, stuff like that." Said Booth with a shrug.

"If that's your definition of a date then you and Dr. Brennan have been on a lot of those." Said Spencer with a smirk. At this Hodgins let out a laugh and looked at Booth to see what he would say.

"No that's different Bones and I, are partners, we work together." He said firmly.

"That doesn't mean anything, Zack and I work together."

"Yeah but…" Said Booth trying to think of something to say.

"Look, I was just merely pointing out that although your suggestion is the more socially accepted view of what a date is, there are alternatives that may work better for some people."

"I think I liked it better when you were afraid of me." Said Booth rolling his eyes.

"I wasn't afraid of you, I was afraid of Dr. Brennan."

"Not even a little bit?"Said Booth looking slightly offended that she wasn't afraid of him.

"No, you remind me of my Dad, you act like a tough guy but really you're just a big softy. Well unless I'm breaking the law or something, which I don't really foresee me doing anytime soon so, yeah it's not like I'm worried you're going to shoot me or something." She said with a shrug.

Booth was about to retort when Dr. Brennan said something about the case to catch his attention and he was quickly headed off in the other direction. Spencer had a feeling the case was close to wrapping up which was a good thing because it meant they would have some down time for awhile.

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Once the bathtub case had been solved they were no longer working as late. Over the past few days the gang had been going to the diner like usual, and things were mostly the same despite the fact that Zack and Spencer were dating. Eventually, Spencer and Zack were able to go on a "real" date.

Zack walked over to her apartment and rang the doorbell. When she answered it she was holding a washcloth over her eye.

"Sorry, I poked myself in the eye with the damn eyeliner pencil. I'll be ready in like 5 minutes; you can sit down for a bit." She said inviting him in before heading over to the bathroom to try and fix her mistake. "Maybe more like 10 minutes." She yelled from the door.

Zack took the time to look at the apartment. He noticed her bookshelf was full of scientific journals, graphic novels and DVDs, and he busied himself with looking at the collection while he waited for her to get ready. She finally came out about 15 minutes later, be he didn't really mind waiting because she looked amazing.

"I'll take the silence as a compliment." She said with a laugh, he hadn't even realized he had been gawking.

"You look very ascetically pleasing."

"You're not too shabby either." She said noticing he wore a nice striped button down shirt and slacks. She could also tell he did not wear it often because he looked slightly uncomfortable in the get up.

"Oh, I got you something." He said digging in his pocket and hand her a piece of paper. It was the print out of a shipping order. "I remember you saying something about your actual favorite flower being a butterwort, and well they don't actually have it in most plant shops so it should get here within 5-9 business days."

Spencer smiled before giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "That's really sweet, Zack. You know you could have just gotten me daffodils."

"Yes, but only someone who is best friends with someone like Dr. Hodgins can get you a rare carnivorous plant. I would appeal to you more my distinguishing myself from other men." He explained.

"Oh I see, trying to buy me off are you?" She said in a joking tone.

"Anthropologically speaking people often given gifts because they expect some kind of reward in return. So although it seems like a self-less act it really isn't."

"Well at least you're honest." She said with a laugh before heading towards the door. Zack followed suit. He frowned slightly when she opened the door. "What?" she said looking confused.

"Shouldn't I open that? I mean I understand that we have strived to have equality between genders in our society but when on a date it's considered chivalrous for a man to open the door for a women."

"Since we're trying to have a proper date I suppose we should do everything right then." She said with a smile shaking her head and closing the door so they could start over again.

So far dinner was going well, as always they had plenty to talk about and Zack picked a nice Italian restaurant that had a very friendly atmosphere to it. Spence had just asked him what had made if first interested in forensic anthropology.

At the moment he was talking about when he was seven and his dad took him to a museum to see some mummies that were on display. She noticed that whenever he talked about his work she could see the passion in his eyes, and could tell he really loved what he did. He was much more natural talking about bones, it was like a duck to water; he was in his element. He had just asked her a similar question when someone walking by stopped at their table.

"Spencer?" Said a man looking at her with interest

"Steven?" Said Spencer obviously surprised to see the man. "What are you doing here?"

"My college has this program where I get an internship at the Smithsonian. As for the restaurant I heard it was good so I figured I would try it, never would have thought I would have run into you though. You look good. Doing well I assume?"

"Yeah, I have an internship at the Jeffersonian Institute and I'm working on getting my doctorate." She looked kind of like she wanted him to leave, but was trying to be polite about it.

"Yeah, after college I was going to get my masters at George Washington and go from there."

"Oh, um this is Zack, we work together and stuff, um Zack this is Steven I knew him from home."

"We used to date back in high school; well I was in high school. Skipped a few grades over here was in college. Though if you two work at the same place you must be a genius like her, you can probably keep up with her better than I did." He said with a laugh.

"For the most part, yes." Said Zack not really sure what to say.

"Well, it was nice seeing you." Said Spencer hoping this would end the conversation.

"Yeah, maybe we can get lunch sometime and catch up. I'll give you a call or something." He said with a smile before leaving their table.

Spencer let out a sigh of relief when he left glad that the awkward situation had passed. "Sorry about that." She said looking over at Zack.

"You mean your ex-boyfriend hitting on you while we were on a date? I don't know why you were apologizing; you obviously didn't want to talk to him."

Spencer let out a laugh. "How is it you could figure out he was hitting on me in an instant but it took you weeks to figure out I was hitting on you?"

"I wasn't as familiar with it before, but I think I have it mostly figured out now, I'm a fast learner." He said with a smile.

After they finished their meal, Zack walked Spencer home and they had a rather prolonged kiss goodbye before Spencer said in a slightly out of breath tone. "Do you want to come upstairs for a cup of coffee or something?"

He looked confused and said 'I think it's a little late for coffee, and we have work in the morning. I should probably get going."

"Okay…if that's what you want." She said with a sigh shaking her head and heading upstairs. She felt a little rejected but was able to calm this feeling with the thought that he probably didn't realize that coffee didn't actually mean coffee. He may be a fast learner but he still had a lot to learn.

Zack took the bus home, Hodgins came to the bus stop to pick him up, and when Zack got in the car Hodgins said "I was kind of surprised when you called me to pick you up. I thought for sure tonight you would have just stayed at her place."

"Well, she invited me up for some coffee but it was kind of late and she knows my view on drinking caffeinated beverages in the evening. So I told her I should probably just go home, then I called you." Said Zack with a shrug.

At this Hodgins just let out a sigh rolling his eyes and said "Zack, you are not a man." He noticed the confused expression on his friend face and he clarified. "You are not a man because no man in the history of the world would turn down a coffee, even if they didn't like the person they would still have coffee, if they were offered it. Coffee is just about the best thing in the world."

"I feel as though you are suggesting that coffee in the social context she suggested it in does not actually mean coffee." Said Zack processing the information suddenly he came to a realization. "Coffee is another word for intercourse."

"Well not, not exactly but if you're on a date and the person suggests something like "Do you want to come upstairs for a cup of coffee" or mentions something like that, that involves inviting you inside it usually means they are suggesting you come upstairs for sex."

"Oh…" Said Zack with mixed feeling although he was glad he had learned something it was a little late to rectify the situation.

Hodgins just started laughing and said "You know for a genius you really aren't that smart sometimes." He noticed Zack was pulling out a phone and he asked "What are you doing?"

"Calling Spencer. I don't want her to be offended I really thought she actually meant a cup of coffee."

"I'm sure she's figured it out by now that sometimes you are completely clueless." Said Hodgins rolling his eyes, he sometimes didn't understand how his intern could put up with his best friend at times.

Rather than saying hello when she answered the phone Spencer said with a smirk. "Hodgins told you I didn't really mean coffee didn't he?"

"He may have helped me come to that conclusion, yes. You know you could have clarified that for me."

"I thought you were a fast learner?" She said with a laugh teasing him.

"I am but when I'm around you my brain doesn't always function properly."

"Yeah, too bad you didn't figure it out earlier. Now you're going to have to buy me dinner again before I invite you up for coffee." She said with a laugh.

"Well judging by how you sound on the phone, you're not angry with me or offended so that's good. I just wanted to clarify, I would hate for my lack of social skills to upset you."

"No at the moment I'm just a little frustrated." She said with a sigh.

"Well if you mean sexually frustrated you could always use…" However before Zack could suggest alternative ways to relieve sexual frustration Hodgins said sternly. "Dude! Not while you're in the car with me!"

Spencer had heard Hodgins yelling from her end of the phones just laughed and said "Zack, one this is not a conversation I think we need to be having and two your scaring Hodgins. How about we just say goodnight, before you commit another social blunder."

"That's probably a good idea."

"Goodnight, Zack." She said with a laugh.

"Goodnight, Spencer." He said with a sigh before hanging up the phone.

The two sat in silence for a moment before Hodgins let out a laugh and said "I can't believe you thought she really meant coffee." This statement earned a glare from Zack.

"I'm glad you find this humorous." He mumbled as they pulled up to the house.

"Yeah, you're not getting any tonight; it sucks to be you."

"Actually I'm fine; I wouldn't want to be you." Said Zack as they got out of the car. Hodgins looked around the massive garage full of expensive cars. He just laughed and said "Really and why is that?"

"Well even though I'm not as you said getting any tonight, I will be having "coffee" in the foreseeable future. You on the other hand…well with the woman you are pursuing, your chances are statistically less likely." Hodgins glared at him and Zack said with a small smirk. "I suppose they would probably increase if you got her intoxicated."

"Dude, the fact that you're basically my best friend is the only think keeping me from kicking your ass right now." Said Hodgins with a glare before they both went their separate ways.

**Review please! You guys have been awesome so far with all your great feedback. I'm glad you like reading the story as much as I enjoy writing it.**


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